Kai laughed and then changed the subject.“Let’s go on a date.”
I smiled. “Are you asking or telling me?” Iteased.
He pulled me in close and brushed my hairaway from my forehead. “Alphas don’t ask.”
I wore a little black dress, red ballet flats,and bright red lipstick. We decided on a small Indian food restaurant that Kai apparentlyowned. One of the pack members managed it.
Kai was surprised that I knew what to orderand that I could handle spicy food. He couldn’t keep his eyes off me all nightand I liked how it made me feel.
“Tell me about your family,” I said taking abite of the lentils and rice.
Kai smiled. “Well, my Dada, which is myfather’s father, was a vegetarian like you. He was the nicest man you ever met.He loved animals.”
“Isn’t most of India vegetarian? I thought itwas a religious thing?” I had found it so easy to eat vegetarian in India.
“They are. The humans, at least,” Kaioffered.
“So tell me a story about your Dada.”
Kai pondered for a moment and then startedlaughing. “Well, when I was a young human boy, I was walking with my grandfatherto another village. We were with a group of cows we owned, to sell them asmilking cows. A man ahead of us had a small metal cage stuffed full withchickens. There was not one inch of space for the chickens to breathe. Somewere bent at such an odd angle their feet and wings were broken.”
“Oh, God.”
“The second my Dada saw the man dragging thecage along the road with the chickens scraping along the ground, he screamed, “Stop!’”
Kai went on. “My grandfather stormed the manand ripped the string from his hand, taking the cage. The guy was furious withmy grandfather and asked him what he thought he was doing. My grandfather toldhim that it was cruel to carry the chickens like this, to cause them pain. Theguy actually laughed. He told my grandfather they were going to the slaughterhouse to be sold for meat anyway, so what did it matter. My grandfather toldthe man that one day he too would die, but he wouldn’t want to be torturedbeforehand.”
I smiled. After a moment of silence, I pokedhim. “So, what happened to the chickens?”
Kai seemed to be off in his head, but hefocused on me. “He traded them for all of the money in his pocket, and thewatch my grandmother had gotten him. We weren’t a wealthy family. It was everyluxury we had.”
“Whoa.” I sat back. Would I have done thesame?
“We took them out of the cage and broughtthem home. We splinted their legs and wings and gave them all names. Theysquawked around the yard for years.” Kai smiled. I smiled, too. I liked storieswith happy endings.
After dinner we went home to watch a movie. Ichanged into yoga pants and a loose long-sleeved t-shirt. Right before Kai wasabout to play the movie, he looked at me with the remote in his hand. “I don’twant to keep secrets from you.”
My heart started beating fast. That’s notexactly a sentence I like to hear.
“Okay, so don’t.”
“After you ran off with Emma and I questionedSylvia, she told me that now that she has her memories back she rememberedsomething else. Something she didn’t show you.”
I paused, waiting.
“After you were turned human as a baby,Sylvia also put a blanket over your natural witch magic. That blanket is stillthere and she will remove it and teach you magic if you want.” He toyed withthe remote, chewing his cheek.
“Oh. More powers, more weird stuff happeningto me without my control? Not now, maybe later, but not now,” I assured him. Ithink we all needed a break from my issues. No way was I adding anymore to myplate.
He sighed in relief. I guess Kai wasn’t ahuge fan of me being part witch.
The next day we toured the top two propertieswe had picked out for Safe Haven. Kai told me price wasn’t an issue and so Ipicked the old high school property. The gymnasium would be perfect fortraining sessions and the cafeteria could feed a lot of families. We couldstock the classrooms with bunk beds and turn them into apartments for familiesin crisis.
Next we met with a contractor to plan outwhat construction needed to be done to the property and how many beds to order.Then Kai had us meet with a marketing firm and had promotional materialsprinted up for Safe Haven. He also purchased a billboard and hired one of thepack members to oversee the daily tasks of running the facility. We were goingto be able to help so many families. After calling local businesses for SafeHaven donations, we collapsed onto the couch.
Kai stared at me seemingly in deep thought.“What?” I prodded.
“You are the ultimate package: beautiful,smart, strong AND a good person. How did I get so lucky?”
